


A Fool's Hope

by SpawnofAnarion



Category: Code Geass, RWBY
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-13 07:02:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29772444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpawnofAnarion/pseuds/SpawnofAnarion
Summary: Ozpin and Salem have been at war for centuries. The board shifts, as do the pieces, but the conflict has always been the same.Until now. A new and mighty power rises in the East, casting a shadow over all of Remnant. Unknown players have stepped up to the table, players who pose a threat to both sides of the secret war. The world begins to change. But in the midst of this, life goes on at Beacon Academy.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 6





	1. A Different Providence

It was morning, and Weiss was just barely beginning to wake up. Her dreams the night before had been lovely—walking along the Atlesian gardens with her sister on a gorgeous day with an inexplicably rainbow-colored sky, being praised by everyone they passed along the way for having become the greatest huntress to ever graduate Beacon Academy. She could at last see pride in her sister’s eyes, even if she hid it well, and could not resist smiling as she began to walk on golden roads as soft as pillow down… before she woke up at last.

All in all, it had been an extremely satisfying sleep after the trials she’d gone through the day before. She felt refreshed, relaxed, and ready to start the day. She rose up, stretching out and allowing herself a dainty yawn. Then she saw something out of the corner of her eye, and turned to look at it.

“Screeeeeeeee!!!!”

“GAH!” Weiss squawked, jumping up in alarm and toppling to the ground in the process. She caught herself before her face slammed into the hard wood of the floor, but only barely.  
Mood. Officially. Broken.

“Gooooood morning, teeeeam RWBY!” A voice from behind her said with an enthusiasm that Weiss at present could only describe as disgusting. Turning to face the culprit, Weiss was entirely unsurprised to find the child that was supposed to be her leader grinning at the room, hands at her sides and incriminating whistle dangling from a cord in her hand. 

“What in the world is wrong with you?” Weiss demanded, frowning her most hostile frown.

“Now that you’re awake, we can officially begin out first order of business—“ The brunette continued, apparently deciding to ignore Weiss completely, which irritated the Schnee Heiress even more.

“Excuse me?” Weiss demanded, pulling herself to her feet and dusting off her shoulders, irritation winding up towards full-on infuriation. Her vision tunneled in on her supposed leader as her frown threatened to morph into an unladylike scowl. The rudeness, the absolute nerve of—

“Decorating!” Another voice said from her left, throwing off the Heiress’ concentration. She turned to see the blonde-haired one—Yong? No, Yang, who she only just remembered was that menace’s older sister—holding two armfuls of seemingly random items.

“—What?” Weiss asked, blindsided and confused. Decorating? Now? Why?

“We still have to unpack.” The black haired girl—Blake, if Weiss remembered, the one who’d insulted her company’s name—said, holding up what was presumably her suitcase. It promptly fell open, loosing its contents onto the floor in a messy heap.

“…aaand, clean.” Weiss’ black-haired teammate said, as if she’d always intended to finish her statement that way. She and the blonde girl looked at her for a moment as if they expected her to say something. 

There were many things Weiss was considering saying at that moment. Or shouting. Or screeching. Mostly having to do with expressing her complete and all-consuming fury at being woken up in such a way. Composing such a diatribe took her a moment, however—such masterpieces of wordplay could not be rushed—so she stood, simply frowning at them, preparing to unleash a verbal assault that would ring in their ears for weeks over this travesty.

“Screeeeeee!”

Weiss didn’t even make a sound as she toppled over this time, falling flat on her back as she tripped over herself trying to escape that accursed whistle. Anger and embarrassment bubbled up inside her as she managed to get up onto her knees. Falling for the same trick twice—it was disgraceful! 

“Aaall right!” Ruby exclaimed. “Weiss, Blake, Yang, and their fearless leader Ruby have begun their first mission. Banzai!” The girl said, raising a fist in the air.

“Banzai!” The other two echoed, mimicking Ruby, before all three tipped to the side at the same time. Weiss could only groan… there was no way that hadn't been rehearsed. She had not signed up for this.

Nonetheless, she couldn’t let these cretins decorate the room by themselves. So, she did what she could. After what felt like an hour of putting together the decor, then being overruled on the merit of bunk beds—which they proceeded to construct in a feat of insanely precarious engineering—the room was finally finished.

“Alright,” Ruby said, pointing dramatically to the ceiling, “our second order of business iiiiiiiis—“ She twirled in a circle in what Weiss judged a particularly ridiculous display before hopping up onto her bed and pulling out a book—“classes.” Weiss could barely repress her sigh of relief at that. At least classes would feature normal people and require everyone to remain more or less silent.

“Now, we have a few classes together today,” Ruby began, "at nine we’ve got to be—“

“What!?” Weiss blurted out, hoping against hope that she had misheard. “Did you say nine o’clock?”

“Umm…” Her useless joke of a leader said, looking side to side.

“It’s 8:55, you dunce!” Weiss exclaimed. She’d been checking the clock every minute or so during the last stages of bunkbed engineering, just in case checking the time would make it go faster. It had not. 

Not quite believing the unbelievable airheadedness of her supposed leader and feeling a spike of panic at the thought of being late to her first class, on her first day, Weiss turned and sprinted out of the door and down the hallway. Luckily, she’d memorized the layout of the dorm building on her way in; it didn’t take long to find the exit onto the main avenue. She heard the others begin to catch up behind her, but didn’t look back—there was no time for that now. 

This was ridiculous. How on Earth could a leader be so dense as to know that their team had a class together at nine o'clock, and then let them waste their time for a full hour on decoration? Not to mention, bunk beds? Of all things? It was totally irresponsible. How could they expect Weiss to follow a person like tha—

Weiss stopped. 

Something had filtered into her brain through her eyes that simply could not be true; it brought her train of thought to a screeching derailment. She stood, stock still, not even hearing the panicked yelp behind her as her teammates and another team bowled each other over in an attempt to not run into her.

"Geeze, Weiss—what the heck was that for?” An angry blonde brawler shouted. Weiss couldn’t bring herself to respond. She just stared down the road, far at the end of the plaza—just past the skydock.

“Weiss, is everything… okay…” Weiss heard Ruby come up next to her, and stop. “What’s that?” She asked, confirming that Weiss wasn’t the only one who saw it. She could hear her heartbeat pumping through her ears, her palms beginning to sweat. It wasn’t a stress induced hallucination. It wasn’t a sign she was going insane. It was much, much worse.

“That shouldn’t be here.” She said, calmly.

“What d’you mean?” Ruby asked. Weiss turned to face her.

“Someone must go alert the school, right now.” Weiss said, feeling the numbness begin to wear off and hearing the panic begin to seep into her own voice. She fought to keep it out.

“Why? Weiss, what’s going on?” Ruby said, with what Weiss guessed was a concerned expression on her face. She hadn't known the girl long, and now she might not have the chance.

“That’s the Morrigan!” Weiss screamed, failing at last to restrain her panic. “That’s the Morrigan.” She tried again, mostly succeeding at sounding more calm.

Ruby looked startled by this, but her expression did not hold nearly the terror it should have had. Neither did those of her other teammates, who now stood next to the two of them looking on in confusion. However, the other team—that bumbling fool Arc’s team, Weiss now noted—had paled to a degree fitting the situation. Excepting the Arc boy, not that that was particularly surprising, given that he was an idiot.

“Surely it cannot be…” Pyrrha said, hands clutching at weapons that weren’t there.

“It is.” Ren said, softly. Nora was uncharacteristically quiet, eyes wide.

Far away, a behemoth descended slowly out of the sky. The sunlight glowed dully across its dark carapace. With the many facets of its shell, it resembled a sea creature of the prehistoric past, drifting down onto its prey. Its bottom half was a bright white, its upper half a purple so dark it was almost black, and it was highlighted all along by a bright violet. Two great wings sprouted out from its massive cylindrical body, drooping to either side; on each was mounted a gigantic mass glowing with pink light on one end. The entirety of its frame was dotted with protrusions, each at regular intervals, each appearing as a jagged tooth or claw. Two horns protruded from its head, going straight out and then twisting up towards the sky. One massive beam, like the horn of a unicorn, stretched out before it. It was as if it had jumped right out of the pages of Weiss’ history textbook. It was right. There. In front of her. The Morrigan.

“We… we have to do something.” Weiss said, knees feeling weak. How had this fear swept over her so quickly—where had it come from? She was better than this. Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder.

“Weiss. Is it dangerous?” Ruby asked, voice more serious than at any time Weiss had known her before, but surprisingly calm. Weiss nodded in response, and Ruby turned to the group.

“Jaune, get back to the school and let them know about the—“ Ruby gestured towards the aberration that was drawing nearer every second, “thing.” she finished. Jaune nodded, setting off at a sprint towards the main school.

“Alright, whatever this thing is, we’re going to have to hold it off until help arrives. That sound about right, Weiss?” Ruby asked. 

“Yes. We need to move fast.” Weiss managed, finding an unexpectedly reassuring strength in Ruby’s silver eyes. Ruby nodded.

“Team RWBY—let’s go!” Ruby cried, charging off towards it, followed closely by Yang and Blake. Weiss blinked for a moment, realizing what she had just done.

“Wait—no! Not without our weapons—“ It was too late. She began to sprint after them, followed closely by the rest of team JNPR. She had to stop them, before it was too late. 

It was a hard choice, looking up at that thing as it got closer and closer, bigger and bigger, with her teammates looking so small as they rushed into its shadow. She was staring death in the face, maybe for the first time, and it made her want to vomit or turn and run. It wouldn’t be hard to find a place to hide in a Vale, the kingdom-city... but she could never live down that kind of shame, and she refused to be remembered as a coward. If Weiss Schnee had to die honorably or tarnish her own name with such shame, she would choose the former. Though, she really hoped it wouldn’t come to that. Dying on her second day at Beacon would truly be a disappointing end.

Distracted by thought and insulated from the reality of the situation, it wasn’t until she ran fully into and bowled over a mass of red cloth that she realized she’d caught up to her team, almost at the end of the skydock. 

“Oww…Weiss!” Ruby exclaimed, and Weiss realized—to her horror—that she’d accidentally tackled her team leader. She tried to untangle herself, but the cloak that the smaller girl wore constantly had gotten wrapped up in her legs. It took a mortifying moment of struggling to get them loose.

“Why were you just standing there, you lunatic? Also, what on earth possessed you to charge up at it without your scythe? We have to go get our weapons, now!” Weiss said, shaking her dazed team leader. 

“But Weiss—“ Ruby started to say, but Weiss cut her off. Whatever her ‘brave leader’ had to say was irrelevant.

“No ‘buts’! Do you have some kind of death wish? What could possibly make you think that—“

“Ahem.” A familiar voice intoned from nearby. Weiss glanced over, and felt a wave of relief wash over her at the sight of Headmaster Ozpin, followed by a wave of confusion. The man was just standing there, idly nursing a mug of what she assumed was coffee in one hand while loosely holding his walking stick in the other. Glinda Goodwitch stood by his side, looking irritated, but not nearly as ready for a fight as she should have been.

“Professor Ozpin! Listen to me, we have to stop that thing—“ Weiss began.

“Miss Schnee, your enthusiasm is admirable, but perhaps it would be best if you calmed down for a moment.” Ozpin said, then took a sip of his coffee. “Also, I believe Miss Rose would appreciate it if you would release her.” 

Weiss looked down and realized she still held a still very dazed Ruby by her uniform’s lapels. This seemed suddenly to be a rather rude thing to do, and under the pressure of burgeoning embarrassment she helped Ruby to her feet. The girl gave her a dizzy smile in thanks, which made Weiss feel slightly guilty for having run her over like that. One glance at the behemoth that was almost directly overhead, however, replaced all the nuanced feelings with a fresh dose of anxious panic.

“Professor Ozpin, sir, you do know what that is—“ She began to ask.

“Yes, I do.” Ozpin replied, taking another sip from his mug as he regarded the approaching monstrosity.

“T-then, you know we have to stop it.” Weiss said. Ozpin shot her an amused glance.

“Oh, no. On that particular count, Miss Schnee, you are incorrect.” Ozpin said. Weiss felt confusion and panic begin to swirl inside her again, and added irritation at the continued emotional whiplash. Was it really so much to ask of herself to just feel one thing at one time? It was almost shamefully anarchic of her, not to mention unpleasant.

“Wait a second…” Yang said, standing with the rest of the group a few feet away, where Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren stood anxiously. “That’s—that’s not a Grimm! That’s—“ Yang began.

“A ship.” Ruby said, gazing up with a far-too impressed expression for Weiss's liking. Naturally her and her bimbo sister wouldn’t know about such a trifling thing as the accursed manmade harbinger of death itself.

“A nightmare.” Weiss said, before turning back to Ozpin. “Professor—“ 

“Miss Schnee, calm yourself. We have been expecting this ship for the past week. There is no need to panic.” Ozpin said. Perhaps he had intended to be reassuring, but this only increased Weiss’ confusion.

“Expecting…? What could possibly warrant that ship’s arrival at Beacon?!?” Weiss demanded. 

The bespectacled headmaster simply gestured up to the gigantic ship, which had almost made contact with the skydock, barely thirty feet away. It stopped, suddenly, and a segment of the hull lowered gradually down until it had become a gangplank. Weiss braced herself for the onslaught she was sure would rush out of the belly of that beast at any moment… but for that moment, nothing came.

Then, a figure strode out of the darkness, and Weiss let out a small gasp. She hadn’t known what to expect, but this was a surprise.

He had unkempt dark hair and was as thin as a scarecrow, but carried himself with the sort of undeniable gravitas that she’d only seen in men like General Ironwood. His violet eyes swept across the group of them; Weiss felt as if the shadow of a nevermore had just passed overhead, blocking the sun’s heat. Chills ran down her spine. She almost didn’t notice as he began to walk forward, his steps long yet carefully measured. 

Weiss’ eyes briefly scanned over his clothing—he wore an unfamiliar uniform, almost all in black with the occasional highlight of sharp crimson or bight gold, a black half-cape that fluttered softly in the wind covering his right side, and a sheathed sword hanging on his left. Seeing the blade, Weiss couldn’t help but tense up, grabbing at the air where Myrtenaster's hilt should have been.  
Two more figures appeared behind him, who Weiss only barely registered—one a girl with bright red hair, one a brown-haired boy, both dressed in unfamiliar but unremarkable fashions.

It seemed like an eternity before the black-haired man reached the bottom of the stairs and approached, eyes fixed on Ozpin. As he neared, Weiss drew closer to the headmaster, and saw the other students doing the same out of the corner of her eye.  
The uniformed man stopped a few feet away, and it was only then that Weiss took in his features; he was handsome, it was true, although his features were so fine he might more accurately be described as beautiful. His eyes, however, were inscrutable. Weiss was genuinely alarmed when his lips pulled up into a polite smile.

“Prince Lelouch, I presume?” Ozpin asked, idly swishing his coffee mug. Weiss frantically dug around in her memory for that name; she’d heard it somewhere, before… but where?

“You’re correct. You must be Headmaster Ozpin, then?” The black haired man—Lelouch—asked.

“Indeed," Ozpin said, with a chuckle, "but, ‘professor’ is just fine. I must say, we have been eagerly awaiting your arrival for some time now.” The headmaster smiled knowingly, as if he didn’t know the chaos his words were causing in Weiss’ head. They’d been expecting him? How…? Why would they be…? She almost missed Lelouch’s slight frown in response.

“Yes… I apologize if our lateness has caused any inconvenience. We encountered a village under attack on the way here, on the eastern coast.” Lelouch said. Glinda looked alarmed at that, but Ozpin merely continued to smile.

“I understand. In fact, you have my gratitude.” Ozpin said, bowing his head slightly. “Regrettably, however, you've missed the team assignment ceremonies yesterday, and arrangements must be made in that regard. Each team must have four members, and all present teams have been assigned.”

“Ah, hopefully that won’t be a problem. I’ve brought along an honor guard, each member of whom should be both at an acceptable skill level and the proper age to attend Beacon.” Lelouch said. He threw out an arm, gesturing to the other two figures descending the stairs. Ozpin glanced over at them, scrutinizing the two of them for a moment before looking back at Lelouch. 

“Fortunate indeed—we shall see how they fare in training, but I will trust in your judgment for the time being. We will still have to arrange for a fourth member, of course.” Ozpin said. Lelouch paused for a moment.

“I don’t believe so—there are three members of my honor guard, after all.” He gestured first to the brown-haired one. “This is Suzaku Kururugi,” he gestured at the red-haired one, “this is Kallen Stadfeldt,” he gestured to the green-haired one, “and this is C.C.”

Weiss almost had a heart attack. Had that girl been standing there the whole time? How had she not noticed someone get that close—only a few feet away, out in the open—especially someone with lime green hair? Even Ozpin seemed taken aback.

“…Ah. So I see." Ozpin said, raising an eyebrow. "Moving on, there’s the matter of your battleship. I’m afraid we will require the use of our dock sooner or later, so it can’t stay where it is indefinitely—and I would be remiss if I did not inform you that our Mistral-born students will likely be disturbed by its presence.” Ozpin said.

“Indeed." Lelouch said, nodding. "The Morrigan will be moving out shortly. I’ve left the captain with orders to patrol the region and cull any sizable groups of Grimm that she encounters. It will be returning to the city at intervals to resupply, but for the most part it should be out of your hair.” He finished. Ozpin nodded.

“This is acceptable. Now, one last thing.” Ozpin’s eyes narrowed slightly. “I am aware that you have a high rank and a noble birth, but we do not assign preference to any student based on such things at Beacon Academy. Every student works to improve themselves as a student, and as a guardian of humankind from those who would threaten it. Social position has no value to the Grimm. You will not be allowed to rely on prestige or wealth to succeed in these halls, or to threaten your fellow students in any way. Is this understood?”

“It is.” Lelouch replied.

“Wait—what? You’re here to become a student?” Weiss asked, before realizing what she was doing. Suddenly, those inscrutable violet eyes were focused on her.

“Of course. What did you think this was for?” Lelouch said, raising his right hand—which Weiss had only just realized held a jarringly normal duffel bag.

“I-I—b-but—“ Weiss stammered, getting a warning glance from Glynda.

“Good.” Ozpin said. “Well, now that that’s settled, let me be the first to welcome you to Beacon Academy.”

“Thank you—it’s truly a magnificent place. Were will we be staying?” Lelouch asked. Weiss refused to believe that this was real. It had to be some sort of delirious fever dream.

“Right this way.” Glynda said, before staring cooly at all of the others present. “I believe the rest of you have classes to be getting to. Correct?” She ‘asked’. 

The implicit threat of punishment in her eyes was motivation enough. Most of their two teams set off at a sprint, heading back up towards the classrooms. Weiss felt hands grab her upper arm and drag her along.

“Come…on…Weiss! You were so worried about being late before!” Ruby—the owner of the aforementioned hands—said, and Weiss followed, glancing back every second step at the creature who had just joined their school. She noticed Pyrrha of all people doing the same, looking back with a deer-in-the-headlights sort of expression as Nora dragged her along. Weiss wondered if her own face looked like that; it certainly felt that way.

Class wasn’t important, not today. A Britannian Prince had come to Beacon. This could spell disaster for everyone, for everything... for Weiss personally, for all of her hopes and dreams.  
How could this have happened?


	2. A Dishonor Unrequited

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pyrrha grapples with the past.

How could this have happened? How could he be here?

Pyrrha couldn’t help but stare at the clock, watching the minutes tick slowly by. It was taking all of her discipline to keep from tapping her toe against the floor, so she let her finger tap her notebook instead and tried to focus on the class. Professor Port, sadly, was not making it easy to do so. She was happy for him that he’d had the opportunity to go on so many adventures, but it really should’ve been obvious that such stories were not necessarily the most useful choices for an academic environment. One might go so far as to say they were a bit silly. Pyrrha, for one, was getting no useful information from the fact that he’d managed to wrestle a beowulf into submission at the age of seven. 

The only thing that had the potential to make this class worse was the fact that he was going to be a first year student as well, and would thus probably be there too, every day. Oh… oh no… 

A bubble of panic began to work its way up her throat. The world seemed to shift around her—her vision was blurring. She felt strangely weak—she realized abruptly that was going to faint. She needed to get out of here, but, how? Bathroom. Go to the bathroom. She raised her hand, though she wasn’t sure she even had the breath to ask.

“Ah, Miss Nikos! Yes, you may very well be the most experienced fighter in this room, given your renown as a champion. However, how shall that experience fare in combat against a true mortal foe?” Port said. 

“S-sir! I would like to prove that I’m a true huntress as well!” Weiss exclaimed, standing from her seat.

“Apologies, my dear, but we only have time for one such trial today, and miss Nikos has already volunteered.” Port said.

She’d… volunteered? The immediate confusion forced the existential panic back down. Volunteered for what?

She watched as Port walked over to an ominously rattling cage as Weiss sat back down with a “hmph".

“Now then, Miss Nikos, it is time to prove yourself! Step forward,” Port said, gesturing to the cage, “and face your opponent.”

Opponent? He wanted her to fight? Fighting, with her head as it was… would be perfect, actually. 

Pyrrha stood, picked up her beloved weapon/shield duo Milo and Akouo, and made her way down the stairs to the stage. As Port went to unlock the cage, Pyrrha schooled her mind into place, pushing each overactive emotion to the forefront and channeling her panic and confusion into her muscles until they felt ready to explode. She let herself fall naturally into her combat stance as the cage door creaked open.

“Go Pyrrha!” Someone shouted. She glanced up and saw it was Jaune, shooting her a thumbs-up with an adorable grin, and Nora pumping her fist in the air as well. Ren shouted nothing, but sent her an encouraging smile. It was so nice, having teammates. She’d only had them for a day so far, but already it had been wonderful. She shot a smile up at them before turning back to face the cage entrance.

Red eyes glared out at her from the darkness. 

There was no warning before the beast charged straight at her—but Pyrrha needed no warning. She rolled to the side, letting it pass uncontested as she studied its exterior. It resembled some kind of armored demon boar. A boarbatusk, she remembered; a beast native to east and central Sanus. The bone plates covering its back meant that any chopping or slicing attack to the exterior would be futile. No use in that approach.

It turned and seemed to try to size her up, unintentionally giving her the initiative. She immediately transformed Milo into its rifle form. Taking aim, she fired off a shot into the boar’s left eye. The beast screamed in rage and pain, curling up and beginning to spin like some sort of monstrous wheel, rolling rapidly across the floor towards Pyrrha. This jogged her memory of the instructions for dealing with this breed as listed in the Sanus bestiary; She sidestepped again, allowing the beast to smash itself into the far wall and rebound onto its back. At a glance she realized that its underbelly was unarmored—the perfect spot for a killing blow.

The beast was beginning to rise, but before it could Pyrrha shifted Milo into javelin form, took aim, and threw. The spear practically leapt across the room, burying itself into the boarbatusk's chest with a satisfying crunch.  
The porcine beast let out one long, final squeal, then began to disintegrate, taking the intensity of the combat atmosphere with it.

“Bravo, Miss Nikos, Bravo! It appears we are in the presence of a true huntress in training.” Port said, clapping. The rest of the class joined in. Pyrrha felt the little thrill that always accompanied even the smallest victory, and schooled her breath back to normalcy, nodding in thanks at the class. Even that brief battle had been enough to calm her down.

“I’m afraid,” Port said, glancing at the clock, “that’s all the time we have for the day. Be sure to cover the assigned readings, and—stay vigilant! Class dismissed.”

The rest of the day seemed to pass by in a blur: Weiss storming out of the room after Port’s class with Ruby on her tail, a quick lunch, Jaune tripping over himself and knocking over an entire bookshelf in the library, then another class, and then dinner, and then homework, and then the sun had already set and all her teammates had gone to sleep and she was just on the edge of doing so herself. She’d almost managed to forget that morning, almost managed to convince herself that it was merely a daydream. 

But she found no such refuge in her dreams...

_She stood in a stadium with the green-sand floor and the high granite columns. The crowd was roaring, and she could feel the excitement saturating the air, feel her own anticipation mixed with trepidation and dour determination. She held Milo and Akouo tight, taking comfort in their familiarity. ___

_Across the dream-blurred stadium stood her opponent, tall and still. Suddenly they were clashing, a desperate melee of quick movements. For a moment she was on her heels, on the verge of being overwhelmed be a storm of strikes and flourishes, but she had a shield—she had Akouo—and her opponent had only a blade. She smashed her way forward again. The crowd screamed still louder, and above it all she heard her mother—her coach—cheering her on. It filled her with righteous, furious determination._

_Then, there was nothing in her way. She thrust Milo forward. The deflection she’d expected never came, and her momentum carried the tip of the blade straight towards the pale unarmored flesh of her opponent’s neck.. Her sword bit deep into flesh, and suddenly everything was quiet. Somehow, she knew, the crowds were still cheering, her mother was laughing grinning like a maniac, but a trickle of deep crimson began to flow up Milo’s blade…  
She tried to let go, but her hand was stuck fast. She tried and she tried and she tried as what could only be blood seeped up Milo’s blade, Milo’s handle, onto her fingers, onto her arm, crawling up her sides, onto her face, sinking deep, covering her mouth, going down her throat, covering her eyes—_

______Pyrrha woke with a start, gasping for air and covered in sweat._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Pyrrha… you alright?’ Jaune asked from nearby, concern written across his sweet, adorable face._ _ _ _ _ _

______“I… I’m fine, Jaune.” She said, flashing him a smile that she hoped looked more real than it felt._ _ _ _ _ _

______Having showered off the sweat and donned a clean uniform, Pyrrha walked with the rest of her team to breakfast, chiming in occasionally on Ren, Jaune and Nora’s conversation. That is to say, Jaune and Nora’s conversation. Ultimately, one might go so far as to suggest that it was just Nora’s conversation._ _ _ _ _ _

______“And I just can’t wait for the pancakes! Missing breakfast yesterday was the worst thing ever.” Nora said. She glanced up at Ren, and chuckled nervously. “Not that I wouldn’t definitely like yours more, Renny.” Ren nodded._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Yeah, sorry again about that.” Jaune said. “At my old school, they did announcements, you know? I was expecting some sort of, I don’t know, breakfast bell.” He finished, smiling an embarrassed smile. It was as cute as it was endearing._ _ _ _ _ _

______“None of us blame you, Jaune—consider it water under the bridge.” Pyrrha said, putting a hand on Jaune’s shoulder. He shot her a grateful glance, and she felt like giggling with glee. That was, truly, strange. What an odd feeling… she’d had crushes before, but with Jaune it felt different, somehow. A little deeper. He was certainly easy on the eyes, at any rate._ _ _ _ _ _

______As they walked though the doorway into the cafeteria, however, she caught sight of someone that made those thoughts take an emotional nosedive._ _ _ _ _ _

______There he was. Just sitting there, opposite his two teammates, eating scrambled eggs._ _ _ _ _ _

______Pyrrha nearly toppled over as someone ran into her from behind._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Oof—uh, sorry, didn’t see you there.” It was a tall second-year student she’d never met before._ _ _ _ _ _

______“My apologies, I’m afraid I was lost in thought for a moment.” Pyrrha said, a little embarrassed that she had just been standing in the doorway like that. She quickly made her way over to the table her teammates had chosen._ _ _ _ _ _

______Team RWBY, it seemed, had beaten them to breakfast, as they already sat on their side of the table. As Pyrrha drew closer, she took note of their selections; Ruby had already helped herself to an absurd number of eggs—Nora likewise had stacked her plate high with a precarious tower of waffles and was cackling with glee as she poured syrup over it. Ren was somehow artfully dissecting an omelette with a pair of chopsticks, Weiss was daintily working her way through a parfait, Yang was plowing through hash browns and bacon at a truly terrifying rate, Blake was reading a book while transporting bites of salmon to her mouth with her fork in the other hand, and Jaune was adorably munching on some cereal—which Pyrrha realized, with a flush of embarrassment, was from a nearby box of Pumpkin Pete’s with her image emblazoned across it.  
Everyone was too busy eating, it seemed, to have struck up a conversation, so Pyrrha just sat down at the open spot next to Jaune and began collecting her preferred breakfast from the food still left on the table—bacon, scrambled eggs, assorted fruit, and hashbrowns. It was good she hadn’t wanted pancakes, as Nora had claimed all of them._ _ _ _ _ _

______It wasn’t long before everyone had finished their food. They still had time before their first class of the day, however, and no one was eager to just get up and leave when they had the chance to sit and talk. The two teams chatted amongst themselves, discussing Port’s readings, the weather, and various other equally innocuous topics. Pyrrha noticed, however, that every once and awhile Weiss would glance back and scan the cafeteria. She wasn’t fully participating in the small-talk, either._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Weiss, are you okay?” Ruby asked. Pyrrha was glad she hadn’t been the only one to notice._ _ _ _ _ _

______“I’m fine.” The Schnee heiress said, a little too quickly. She looked at Ruby’s disbelieving face, and seemed to cave—which was a little strange. Weiss had been so irritated with Ruby the other day, hadn’t she? It would have been difficult for Pyrrha, who had been trained to pay attention to and analyze the smallest of sounds in the heat of combat, not to have caught pieces of the fight the two of them had in the hall over leadership the day before. Perhaps they had made up?_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Alright, but I’m not not fine. I’m… nervous.” Weiss said. Ruby’s eyebrows shot up in surprise._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Nervous? Why?” Ruby asked. Weiss frowned a little._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Not… nervous, per say. More, anxious. I’m being… wary, I suppose.” Weiss said._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Wary of what?” Ruby asked, expression getting a bit more serious. Pyrrha felt the rest of the table’s conversations die down a little, listening to the two girl’s discussion a little more intently._ _ _ _ _ _

______“The Britannians, obviously!” Weiss said._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Oookay… why are you nervous about the Britannians?” Ruby asked._ _ _ _ _ _

______“I’m not nervous! I’m wary. And you should be too.” Weiss looked around at the rest of the table, whose conversations had fully died down. “You all should be.”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“What’s wrong with Britannians?” The question came from Yang this time. “I mean, they’re a bit warlike or whatever, but so’s Atlas, yeah?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“It’s not the same!” Weiss exclaimed, slamming her hand down on the table. “The Britannians are bloodthirsty, and vile, and they’re all like slaves to their spoiled aristocrats. People like that prince over there!”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Woah, okay there, Weiss cream—I didn’t mean to step on your toes there or anything, sheesh.” Yang said, holding up her hands in a placating gesture. “But, I mean, it seems like that might just be the sort of thing they tell you in Atlas, you know? At Signal they told us Atlas and Britannia hated each other’s guts but were pretty similar, army-and-government wise, just different kinds of people in charge.” Yang said._ _ _ _ _ _

______“That’s not even remotely true! The Britannians have done abominable things. They’re almost as bad as the Grimm, maybe worse! Grimm don’t think, don’t pretend to be people. Britannians choose to be evil.” Weiss said, suddenly turning to face Pyrrha. “Pyrrha, you’re from Mistral—don’t you agree that that creature over there is dangerous to all of us?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______Pyrrha froze as the whole table turned to look at her. She hadn’t wanted to be a part of this._ _ _ _ _ _

______“…no.” Pyrrha said, shaking her head. Weiss was dumbstruck._ _ _ _ _ _

______“B-but, the Britannians—“ Weiss began to say._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Have done horrible things, yes. But, I don’t think individual people deserve to be judged solely on the merits of their nationality.” Pyrrha said, meeting Weiss’ gaze._ _ _ _ _ _

______“That doesn’t change the fact that he’s a prince. He’s one of their leaders, not just some random subject.” Weiss said, crossing her arms._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Perhaps normally I might agree with you, but in this case, I cannot. I owe him that much, at least.” Pyrrha said—and then instantly resisted the urge to cover her mouth in alarm at what she’d just said. the entire table was staring at her now._ _ _ _ _ _

______“…owe who that much?” Weiss asked, eyes narrowing. Pyrrha felt the panic rising again, and scrambled to come up with an answer._ _ _ _ _ _

______“I… um…” Pyrrha stalled._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Oh crap, guys, class starts in five minutes! We’re gonna be late again!” Jaune cried out, almost flipping the table as he stood up and making everyone acutely aware of the fact that the mess hall was now almost empty. Instantly the other members of the table began to scramble to gather their things and get going, even Weiss, although she shot a parting suspicious glare Pyrrha’s way. Jaune—amazing, wonderful Jaune—shot her a wink as he collected his things and got going. Pyrrha followed, and was almost relieved until she remembered that the Britannian prince would be in class as well._ _ _ _ _ _

______Their first class of the day was ‘History of Remnant: A Complete Overview and Deconstruction of the Major Events that Shaped and Continue to Shape Our World, Part 1’. They’d all shuffled into their desks, Pyrrha ending up in a spot next to Blake relatively near the center of the room. She caught sight of black hair and violet eyes, and watched anxiously out of the corner of her eye as the Britannian prince walked up the stairs, passing her row, and entered into the row directly above and behind hers, which at least meant she wouldn't have to look at him. She was dismayed to realize, however, that he’d unwittingly sat down right next to Weiss._ _ _ _ _ _

______Thankfully, before anything or anyone could be stabbed repeatedly, their professor entered the room. It was quite the entrance, too; one moment, there was no one there, and then with a whoosh of air there was someone, whose name turned out to be Oobleck—he’d already written it on the board. After having met Nora two days prior, Pyrrha hadn’t been sure it was possible to find someone with more energy. She saw now that she had been wrong. Professor Oobleck moved—and spoke—at a speed the eye and ear could only barely follow. Mere moments after entering the classroom, a syllabus had appeared as if by magic on her desk and those of everyone around her, accompanied by another gust of air that required her to slam her notebook down onto that syllabus to keep it from escaping with the wind. Several other students weren’t so lucky, if the small dusting of syllabi falling from the ceiling was any indication. By that time, he’d already jumped fully into lecture mode. Thankfully, he began to slow down to a comprehensible pace about a third of the way through class, and Pyrrha’s notes began to become closer to actual recordings than confused guesswork. It ended up being a surprisingly good distraction from her troubles, since even a moment spent out of focus would mean an entire theory on the history of Remnant would be lost._ _ _ _ _ _

______“…and, we shall conclude with the Great War and its aftereffects, of which there are many—the rise of Atlas, the creation of the CCT network, governmental reform, the end of slavery, and so forth.” Professor Oobleck said. Pausing for a moment. “Yes, Miss Schnee?”_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Professor, why are we stopping at the Great War? Shouldn’t we be learning about more recent events?” Weiss asked._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Doctor.” Oobleck corrected, narrowing his eyes in in warning. “That, I’m afraid, will be reserved for the second half of History of Remnant: A Complete Overview and Deconstruction of the Major Events that Shaped and Continue to Shape Our World. I applaud your enthusiasm, but we cannot be putting our carts before our horses, as it were. Any more questions?” Professor—erm, Doctor—Oobleck asked. No one raised a hand._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Very well, then. Class, dismissed.” He said. And suddenly, he was gone. Pyrrha looked up at the clock, a little dismayed that two hours had already passed. Had she been focusing that hard? Regardless, she stood up, grabbed her things, and began to walk along the row where she’d been sitting towards the closest aisle. She stopped, however, when she suddenly made eye contact with the last person she wanted to see, and her stomach flopped._ _ _ _ _ _

______She stared into those violet eyes, expecting to see hatred, or disgust, or bitterness. All she could see, though, was recognition. Whatever else he was feeling, he hid it well. He nodded once, and then moved on down the stairs, becoming a part of the crowd making their way out of the room._ _ _ _ _ _

______What had that meant? What was that nod supposed to mean…?_ _ _ _ _ _

______“Hey, Pyrrha… are you ok?” Blake asked from behind her, startling her back to focus. Pyrrha turned quickly, and tried to smile._ _ _ _ _ _

______“You look like you just saw a ghost.” Blake said, raising an eyebrow at Pyrrha’s attempt to smile._ _ _ _ _ _

______“I—it’s fine.” Pyrrha said. Blake frowned, but nodded._ _ _ _ _ _

______They had ‘Dust Chemistry 101’ with Professor Peach shortly after that, which, while interesting, was not really Pyrrha’s specialty. Then, it was time for lunch._ _ _ _ _ _

______On the way into the mess hall, she bumped into him again. Again, he nodded at her, and moved on. This time, she followed him._ _ _ _ _ _

______She’d always been taught to go at her problems head-on, to face conflict and bring it to a head. Waiting only seemed to make things worse, and there was no running from this. She had to address it eventually. Better now than never._ _ _ _ _ _

______He didn’t seem to notice that she’d followed him until he had almost reached the table where two of his teammates already sat, chatting. He glanced back and seemed a bit surprised to see her following him, and turned to face her._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Pyrrha Nikos. Greetings. We’ve met before.” He said. Pyrrha nodded instinctually._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Yes… I remember.” She managed, struggling for words. The silence that followed seemed to drag on. Panic and shame began to crawl up her throat again, pushing her to reconsider, to leave and try to pretend it hadn’t happened and she was fine and nothing was wrong. She fought it back. He was just standing there, waiting, expression guarded._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Was there something you wanted?” He asked, finally. She resisted the urge to say ‘nothing’ and leave, even if she was beginning to feel overwhelmed by shame._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Yes. I… I came to apologize.” She said, dropping her eyes from his gaze._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Apologize…?” He said, sounding confused, which only made her feel more ashamed. He thought her incapable of realizing how dishonorable she had been—she supposed she couldn’t blame him for that._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Yes. What I did was cruel, shameful, and absolutely reprehensible, and I do not expect or ask for your forgiveness, but I wanted to express to you that I am deeply sorry for it.” Pyrrha said, rushing out the words as if saying them more quickly would absolve her. The silence grew heavy as she awaited judgement—but part of her felt lighter now, having gotten that off of her chest. She had vowed to do it some day, but having no way of contacting a Britannian prince she had allowed herself to put it off. Seeing him again the day before had brought it all back to the forefront of her mind…_ _ _ _ _ _

______“…uh… I appreciate the sentiment, but I have no idea what you’re apologizing for.” He said. Pyrrha’s mind drew a blank._ _ _ _ _ _

______“What?” She said, meeting his age once more and seeing a glimmer of uncomfortable confusion there. “But, how, how is that possible?” She asked. The prince smiled politely, clearly not understanding the magnitude of her alarm._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Perhaps you should tell me what you’re apologizing for, first?” The prince suggested, and the mix of fear and shame and irritation that that dredged up in Pyrrha was a problem that she had to move quickly to address._ _ _ _ _ _

______“I’m apologizing for mocking you, trying to seriously injure you, and refusing to acknowledge you as a worthy opponent.” Pyrrha said, forcibly keeping the tremor out of her voice. She was surprised to see his expression soften somewhat at that._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Ah. Well… I appreciate your apology, then, and accept it.” He said, which threw Pyrrha’s emotions into disarray yet again._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Y-you—just like that? But… how? Why?” Pyrrha asked, dumbfounded._ _ _ _ _ _

______“To be honest, when you followed me over here I was worried you were going to challenge me to a duel of some sort. This is a pleasant surprise.” He said._ _ _ _ _ _

______“A—a duel? Why would I challenge you to a duel?” Pyrrha asked._ _ _ _ _ _

______“It was the theory that seemed to make the most sense, after how you’d acted during our last battle.” He said, and Pyrrha went back to feeling ashamed. He seemed to notice that immediately, however._ _ _ _ _ _

______“—But again, there’s no need for you to feel ashamed. I can sympathize with your perspective. If anything, I think you’re far more honorable than most for holding your insults to a stranger against yourself for this long.” He said, which made Pyrrha feel slightly better._ _ _ _ _ _

______“It’s just… I don’t know if you know, but the woman you saved that day was my mother.” She saw something light up deep in his eyes at that, and a sort of compassion well up that she felt she really didn’t deserve to see. “I owe you a deep debt for that.” She said._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Ah.” He said, looking down. “Well, then… thank you for your apology. In repayment for your debt,” he met her eyes again, “I ask that you stop holding your past actions against yourself. You’re clearly a decent, honorable person; move forward, knowing that. You came to get my forgiveness, and you have it, but it would be easy to forget to forgive yourself. Don’t let such small mistakes tie you down.” He looked past her for a moment.  
“It looks like your team is expecting you.” He said. Pyrrha glanced back, and saw her friends all looking across the room at her._ _ _ _ _ _

______“So it would seem…” She said, looking back at him. “Thank you, your highness.” She said, quietly. He chuckled._ _ _ _ _ _

______“Please, no. No titles necessary—just 'Lelouch' is more than fine. Anyways, I'll be seeing you around.” He said, and with that, he went to go join his table. Feeling better, if somewhat exhausted and confused, Pyrrha went to rejoin her team._ _ _ _ _ _

______It was going to be an interesting year._ _ _ _ _ _


	3. A Prideful Combat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jaune attempts to arbitrate. Weiss attempts regicide.

It was going to be an interesting year. The most interesting of Jaune Arc’s life, really. That he’d been able to squeak his way into Beacon at all had been a miracle, and to end up with teammates as cool as his…? Well, he’d been lucky.

“Hey Pyrrha!” Jaune said, smiling as his partner arrived at their table. “Who’s that guy you were talking to? It seemed like—“ he realized a little too late that Pyrrha’s expression was less cheery than usual, “you looked like you were having an, uh, interesting conversation…” She smiled back at him, though she still looked a bit distracted.

“It wasn’t important.” Pyrrha said lightly, sitting down across from him and immediately reaching for a tray of chicken.

“Wasn’t—wasn’t important!?” Weiss exclaimed, pointing back at the purple-eyed boy Pyrrha had been talking to, who looked like he was in the middle of scooping some salad onto his plate. “You were fraternizing with that—that fiend! What on Earth could you possibly have had to say to him?” Weiss’ eyes narrowed. “Does this have to do with you ‘owing him’ something?” She demanded.

“Ah… well…” Pyrrha was looking distinctly uncomfortable, which made Jaune uncomfortable. He wasn’t sure what to do; he was Pyrrha’s partner and leader, and Weiss was being weirdly aggressive—but he liked Weiss! 

“We’d like to know too, Pyrrha.” Nora said, quietly. Her and Ren were staring at Pyrrha as well, something like distrust in their eyes—which was even worse than Weiss’ disapproval. Why was everyone so upset with Pyrrha talking to some student she knew? He glanced over at Ruby, Yang, and Blake, but they were all looking between Pyrrha and Weiss like some sort of a fight was about to break out. Luckily, Jaune noticed a distraction just in time.

“Hey, look, Professor Ozpin’s up on the stage!” He said, pointing to the far end of the hall. At the same time, the professor tapped his microphone three times to get everyone’s attention. Jaune quietly sighed in relief. Weiss shot one last suspicious glare Pyrrha’s direction, but then turned to face Ozpin’s podium.

“Good afternoon, students. I have a brief announcement to make.” He paused, taking a sip from his mug that the microphone sent sharply reverberating around the room. Everyone winced.

“I’m sure,” Ozpin continued, “that many of you have noticed some students in your classes who were not present at initiation. As it happens, we have four first year students who were regrettably unable to arrive in time. They have, however, been admitted to this academy and assigned to their own team, and will continue to participate as members of your class. Could Suzaku Kururugi, Kallen Stadfeldt, C.C., and Lelouch vi Britannia please stand?”

Murmurs and whispers broke out after that last name as the two—wait, three?—students who had been sitting with the boy Pyrrha had been talking to stood up, as well as the boy himself.

“From this day on, for the next four years, you will be a part of team—“ Ozpin paused for a moment, sighed, and continued, “limerick…s.”

The silence following that was deafening. Jaune blinked, twice. That… that couldn’t be right.

“To clarify, the team name will be spelled LCKS, and the team will be led by Lelouch vi Britannia. Welcome, team LCKS, to Beacon. That is all.” Ozpin said, leaving the stage a bit faster than was strictly necessary. The newly christened team LCKS stood awkwardly for a second longer before the black-haired boy began to sit and the others quickly followed suit.

“Aren’t… aren’t limericks a kind of poem?” Jaune asked.

“Yes.” Blake, Weiss, and Ren said simultaneously, before glancing around at each other in surprise.

“But… aren’t all the team names supposed to be colors?” Nora asked.

“Limerick is also technically a shade of green.” Weiss said, matter of factly.

“Wow! How the heck did you just know that, Weiss?” Ruby asked.

“Long hours of tutoring.” Weiss said, looking proud of herself. From what Jaune had seen, was pretty amazing how much Weiss knew. A beautiful girl with a beautiful mind. 

“Still, even if limerick is a color, the plural wouldn’t be.” Blake said, thoughtful.

“I’m not sure there are many, if any colors that correlate to L, C, K, S.” Ren said.

“I mean, there has to be something! Maybe…” Ruby started to say, then looked a bit sheepish as she became the center of attention. “L…licks?” Everyone stared at her for a moment.

“No.” Weiss said. “It’s probably the best name possible with those letters. If they wanted better, they should’ve gotten here on time, when it was still possible to have a team with a more recognizable color name. It’s not like it matters that much, anyways.” 

“Hmm, I don’t know, Weiss… maybe that’s just your ozpinion?” Yang said, grinning. The table members collectively groaned. “Oh, come on—that one was pretty good!”

“Ugh, Yang, you’re the worst!” Ruby said, tugging on her cloak.

“Aw, Rubes—Don’t go sistabbin’ me in the back like that!” Yang said, grin growing wider.

“Alright, stop that.” Weiss said, crossing her arms. “Now, I believe it’s time we resolve our previous topic of conversation.” She looked pointedly at Pyrrha. Jaune felt the atmosphere begin to tense up again, and glanced back and forth between Weiss and Pyrrha, who had folded her arms too and was evenly meeting Weiss’ glare.

“Respectfully, Weiss, it’s hardly any of your business.” Pyrrha glanced around at the rest of the table, and sighed. “But, I can see that you’re all curious. It’s just… it’s not a story I particularly enjoy telling.”

Jaune wanted to reach across the table, put his hand on her shoulder, and tell her that she didn’t have to tell them anything if she didn’t want to… but would that be too presumptuous? How would she take it? If it was just him, he didn’t think he’d necessarily take the chance, but wasn’t it his responsibility as team leader?

Before he could do anything, though, Ruby beat him to the punch.  
“Pyrrha, if you don’t want to talk about it, that’s okay.” She said, smiling softly at the red-haired girl. “We can wait for another time, if you even want to share it at all.” The brown haired girl stared up at Weiss for a moment, and it looked like the two were having some sort of battle of wills. 

“Well—fine.” Weiss said, throwing up her hands in irritation. Pyrrha at least looked relieved. 

The rest of lunch was quiet and a bit tense, though he and Yang did their best to keep up the conversation. Weiss and Pyrrha went out of their way to not look at each other, Nora and Ren continued to be unusually solemn, and Jaune felt uneasy about the whole thing.

Finally, lunch being over, they headed to their next class—their first one taught by Professor Goodwitch. It was at the practice stadium, a pretty long walk away from the mess hall. To Jaune’s dismay, the awkward atmosphere continued to hover over them like a brewing thundercloud that no one wanted to mention. Ruby and Blake at least contributed to the conversation, but with half of both their teams remaining silent, it still felt strange, lopsided. It was a relief when they all shuffled into the benches overlooking the stadium, and Professor Goodwitch began to speak.

“Welcome, students, to your first day of Sparring 101. In this class, you will compete against each other as if you were fighting in a tournament. Each battle shall be a duel, with one combatant chosen automatically by myself and the other combatant chosen by the first. You will fight until one of your aura’s has been drained into the red, as is indicated by the meter on your scroll. If, for whatever reason, you have not yet downloaded one of the applications that does so, I’ve sent you all a link to the program I prefer.” Jaune could’ve sworn she’d directed that last comment at him. It even seemed like she’d glared directly at him, although he supposed it could’ve been anyone on his side of the room… still, his palms began to sweat a bit. There was no way she could know about the transcripts, right?

“Now, since it’s the first day, I understand how this could be highly stressful. I won’t force one of you to go first, if there are any who would choose to do so freely. Are there any volunteers?” Glynda asked. There was a pause for a moment.

“Heh. I’ll go.” Someone said.

“Cardin Winchester, very well. I appreciate your enthusiasm. Who do you choose as your opponent?” Glynda asked as Cardin stood and scanned the room.

“Her.” He said, pointing to a dog-eared faunus girl Jaune didn’t know.

“Lucille Herra, do you accept his challenge?” Glynda asked. Lucille stood.

“I do.” She said, and her and Cardin were directed down to what Jaune presumed were locker rooms.

It was the first fight between hunter and huntress Jaune had seen at Beacon, and it was exhilarating—if also more than a little intimidating. 

Cardin clearly had the strength advantage; he pulverized the ground with every hit, and Jaune could feel the ground shake slightly every time. The faunus girl had the advantage in speed and agility, chopping at Cardin with twin hand axes from unexpected angles and getting in her fair share of hits as she dodged and rolled around her much larger opponent. Ultimately, though, Cardin finally managed to get in a good hit, an overhead crushing blow that Lucille hadn’t managed to roll out from under in time. Jaune winced as her aura dropped from high yellow into low red on the holographic monitor.

“That’s enough. Cardin has emerged as the winner of this contest—well done, both of you.” Glynda said. Cardin smirked.

“Heh. All bark and no bite, huh? That was easy.” He said, turning his back on the faunus girl, who glared daggers at him. Jaune frowned. That wasn't the way you were supposed to treat a fallen opponent in a tournament. Even someone like Jaune knew that.

Several more fights went by, each pretty similar to the first one, though none of them ended as rudely. He even got to see Ruby and Nora compete, which was fun and bombastic, ending only when Ruby tripped while going too fast and tumbled directly out of the ring. As time went on, though, he was beginning to seriously dread being called on. His nervousness had sprouted into full-on anxiety by the time Glynda was preparing to call on the last bout of the day. Being the last would be terrible—the last thing anyone would remember would be him getting his butt kicked.

“The last name on our roster for today is—“ Glynda paused, checking her clipboard, and Jaune could barely bear the wait—“Weiss Schnee.”

Jaune breathed a sigh of relief as the white-haired heiress stood from her seat. He was close enough to make out her expression, and was alarmed to notice that she had a look of fierce determination on her face. 

“I challenge Lelouch vi Britannia.” She declared. 

Oh. Well, this was going to be interesting. Jaune really did admire how bold she was, standing all tall and proud and defiant. The class exploded into whispering, and Jaune swore he could see a few people exchanging money. Were they seriously taking bets?

“Quiet down, class.” Glynda said, smacking her riding crop against her hand in an innocuous sort of way. The echoing sound was enough to make everyone freeze, however, even Jaune—and he hadn’t moved or said a thing. Glynda turned to where the black-haired boy sat.

“Lelouch vi Britannia, do you accept this challenge?” She asked. The boy sat for a moment, and then stood. He looked pretty frail, Jaune thought... but, then again, Weiss looked pretty delicate herself. Elegant and poised, seemingly fragile, but wrought in tempered steel. Looks probably weren’t the best judge of fighting strength.

“I do.” The black-haired boy said.

“Very well—you both have a minute to prepare yourselves.” Glynda said, smacking her palm again for emphasis. As soon as they were certain she’d stopped talking, the whispering began again. Weiss began to make her way past them.

“You can do it, Weiss!” Ruby said, smiling at her. Weiss gave her a small nod.

“Good luck!” Jaune said, receiving no such nod.

“Kick his butt, Weiss-cream!” Yang said.

“Stop calling me that.” Weiss said, though it seemed to lack real hostility.

Weiss disappeared down the stairs, and their two teams began to speculate immediately.

“Think she’s going to win?” Yang asked.

“I don’t know… from what I’ve heard, Britannian royalty aren’t always trained in combat, but when they are, they can afford the best equipment, and the best teachers.” Blake said.

“I guess, but Weiss’s family’s super rich too, right? And she’s so strong—I’m sure she can do it.” Ruby said.

“I wouldn’t be.” Pyrrha said. It was the first thing she’d said in the last hour.

“Pyrrha…” Jaune began, not really sure what to say. He hadn’t seen this side of her before. Then again, he hadn’t really known her for that long, had he?

“I don’t mean to say that I think Weiss is weak. I’m sure that she is one of the most capable combatants in our class.” Pyrrha looked around at the other’s expressions, and sighed. “It’s just that… well, I’ve fought him before.” 

Jaune wasn’t sure he’d heard right. “You… what?”

“It’s a long story.” Pyrrha said, folding her arms. “I’ll fill you in on it some other time…” she looked up at Ren and Nora in particular, who had been avoiding her gaze since lunch but now stared at her in shock. Jaune glanced around at the others, and saw similar expressions. Even Blake looked a bit alarmed.

“It’s… it’s not a story that I’m proud of. For now, suffice it to say that I fought him in a tournament. I defeated him then, but he was no pushover. I have no idea how much he’s progressed since.” Pyrrha finished, now staring down into her lap.

“Huh…” Yang said, frowning a little. “I hope Weiss knows what she’s getting into.”

At that moment, the stadium doors nearest to them opened, and Weiss stalked out, white combat skirt bouncing and rapier at her side.

The other doors opened shortly after, and the Britannian prince strode out, taking much longer to reach the central platform.   
His clothes—an unfamiliar military uniform all in black, with a half-cape billowing off of his right shoulder—were a stark contrast with Weiss’s, though both had dashes of crimson included as highlights. Jaune was surprised to see a rapier hanging at his side, as well, though unlike Weiss he had what looked like a dagger hanging from the other.

The two combatants stopped at the customary spots on either end of the circle.

“Greetings, Miss Schnee.” The Britannian prince said, bowing slightly.

“I hope you’re prepared to lose, Britannian.” Weiss replied, pointedly not returning the favor. Jaune winced—that seemed a bit rude.

“Are you both ready?” Glynda asked. The two of them nodded. Weiss drew her sword and assumed a ready stance, and the prince drew his blades and did the same. Jaune heard Ruby gasp and say something he couldn’t quite make out aside from the word ‘cool’.

“Very well.” Glynda backed out of the circle. “On my mark: three, two one—begin!”

The word had barely even been spoken when Weiss made a glyph and launched herself towards her opponent. Jaune was shocked and impressed by the speed of that attack—but then was totally flabbergasted when the Britannian prince dodged out of the way. 

It wasn’t even a dodge, exactly—it looked as if he’d stepped aside just enough for her to go past. The half-cape fluttered in the backdraft, and the boy shifted, spinning quickly on his heel with his blades up in a guarding stance.

Weiss stopped herself with another glyph, and launched herself again. The Britannian pulled the same trick, shifting to the side just far enough that she shot past again, flying dangerously close to the disqualification line.

Weiss stopped herself again on a glyph, and switched tactics. She activated a switch on the handle of her sword, flipping it over and plunging it into the ground. 

A wave of ice sprung out in the Britannian prince’s direction, and he was forced to leap aside to the side. He landed in a quick roll, and in an instant he was back his feet. He immediately began to stride towards Weiss, blades raised.

Weiss summoned more glyphs, launching herself back and forth between them from one side of the arena to the other. She was moving faster than Jaune could clearly see, stabbing at the Britannian. But he seemed to dodge or block every strike, even so. His sword and dagger moved sharply and constantly, stopping at the right moment in the right place to deflect or block each strike. It was mesmerizing.

Weiss jumped off of one last glyph and rushed in, stabbing and slashing repeatedly at the Britannian, who parried and parried until Weiss slashed a little too wide—and then suddenly his sword leapt forward, seemingly out of nowhere, stabbing straight at Weiss’ head. 

Weiss flinched back, backpedalling for a step, and then the boy began his offensive. He advanced steadily, methodically, stabbing and slashing at Weiss with his rapier just as quickly as she had been doing a moment before, as she desperately shifted backwards and blocked.

At last she backflipped under one of his slashes, came up into a crouch, leapt up to a glyph she’d placed just above his head, then launched herself back down at him at lightning speed.

The Britannian prince jumped backwards, hit the ground and then rolled to his feet. Weiss was already charging, having launched herself with another glyph, blade pointed directly at the prince’s face. In a blur of movement, the prince rolled to the side, then stuck out his blade.

With a thwack that echoed around the room and made everyone wince, Weiss slammed into the blade stomach-first at top speed. The sword held firm in the prince's hand, and for an instant Weiss folded in half around it. Her rapier went flying off of the field, and she slid to the floor, clutching at her stomach and gasping for breath.

“That’s enough.” Glynda said, startling Jaune. It… it couldn't be over already, could it? But looking up to the leaderboard, Weiss’ aura said otherwise. That one hit had drained it almost to empty. Jaune believed it, but… wow. Poor Weiss…

“N-no…” Weiss said, gasping. The Britannian prince offered her a hand, but she smacked it away. “This… this isn't over.” She said. The Britannian prince said nothing, but turned to walk away.

“It is for today, Miss Schnee. You’ve both fought well, but Lelouch vi Britannia is the winner.” Glynda said. “That is all for today—dinner should be ready soon. You are dismissed.” 

Jaune didn’t know what to think or how to feel. On one hand, he felt pretty bad for Weiss... but on the other, she’d chosen this, and sort of brought this on herself. The prince was clearly a powerful opponent. He glanced up as Ruby rushed by, followed by Yang and Blake. Deciding he could think about it later, he stood, walking with the rest of his team towards the exit.

This had been quite a day.


	4. A Curious Evening

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Suzaku adjusts to life at Vale. Lelouch copes with his circumstances.

This had been quite a day.

Suzaku let Lelouch stride past him as he watched the Schnee girl's teammates help her up. He caught an all-too-familiar look of helpless hatred in her eyes as she glared at his old friend's back.

"She's not going too forget this, you know." Suzaku said, catching up to Lelouch. He sighed.

"I know." He said, voice carefully neutral.

"Wasn't the whole point of this supposed to be going somewhere where you wouldn't be hounded by enemies every day?" Suzaku asked.

"Yes, it was." Lelouch replied, a note of irritation seeping into his voice. "It looks like I'm doomed to make enemies wherever I go." He chuckled at that, though it lacked any real humor. Suzaku reached out and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"You've made friends, too. Don't forget that." He said. Lelouch looked back, seemed to consider that for a moment, then smiled.

"So I have. I must thank you again for agreeing to come along with me on this…" Lelouch waved his hand, failing to find accurate words. Suzaku understood. It wasn't exactly a vacation, but it wasn't exactly studying abroad, either. It wasn't even an exile.

"As if Milly would've let me turn you down." Suzaku said, grinning. They both laughed at that.

"Ah... I wish she could have come, too. She would've loved it here." Lelouch said.

"I don't know. She seems to enjoy being lord and master of the student body a lot more than combat training." Suzaku observed, and Lelouch chuckled again.

"True, true—but that's what I meant. I can't really put my finger on why, but it seems like this might be the kind of school that's filled with drama and secrets around every corner. She'd fit in better than any of us." Lelouch's smile faded. "Speaking of which, how's your partner doing?"

"Kallen? She said she was going back to the room." Suzaku saw Lelouch frown a little at that. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Lelouch said. People who didn't know him as well might have believed that, but the twitch of his left eyebrow gave him away. Suzaku raised his own, waiting. Lelouch rolled his eyes.

"All right, fine. I'm a bit concerned that we haven't exchanged more than a few sentences in the weeks since we left Mistral. I get the impression she's been avoiding me." Lelouch said, idly scratching his head.

"Huh…" Suzaku said, scratching his head. "I hadn't realized."

"Yeah. I haven't pressed the issue yet, but I'm starting to wonder." Lelouch looked thoughtful. "How long have you known her again, Suzaku?"

Suzaku sighed. "Lelouch, you don't have to worry about Kallen. I think I'd know if my own partner was a spy or an enemy agent."

"That's exactly what someone whose partner was secretly a spy or an enemy agent would say." Lelouch said, staring pointedly at him. Suzaku scowled.

"Even if that were true, I met her on the first day of my first semester, and that's when we became partners—which was a full year before you came by. Unless she came back in time to spy on you, of course." Suzaku said, frowning as if he was deep in concentration. "Oh no…! One of your siblings must have invented a time machine, and then sent an agent back to become my partner for a year, all so she could follow you to Beacon Academy and report on your academic progress! We must protect you from her prying eyes." Suzaku said. He raised his eyebrows at Lelouch, and it was Lelouch's turn to scowl.

"Look, I was just asking. I didn't even think her being some sort of agent is a likely possibility. If she were a spy, I'd think she'd have tried to get close to me or at least remain as innocuous as possible. If she were some sort of assassin, she had plenty of opportunity in the previous few weeks to make an attempt. I'm just worried that she might be afraid of me for some reason, or have some sort of a crush on me. If that's the case, we're going to end up being the ones generating the drama in this place, and teamwork will be that much harder." Lelouch looked up, and his face schooled itself into a completely neutral expression. "Speaking of drama…" He said, and flicked his eyes forward. Suzaku turned to look, and blanched.

Professor Goodwitch did not look happy. On hearing their footsteps, she wheeled to face them, and while her expression maintained its normal stern mask, her eyes screamed murderous rage.

"Excuse me, students," She began in a rather clipped tone, "have either of you, by any chance, done something with my riding crop?" Suzaku shook his head, but out of the corner of his eye he saw Lelouch stiffen. Goodwitch rounded on Suzaku's unfortunate friend, a lioness cornering her prey.

"Do you have something to say, Mr. vi Britannia?" She said, terrifyingly calm. He began to shake his head—then, there was a clatter, as the riding crop fell from somewhere above them and landed on the ground between Lelouch and the professor. They all stared at it for a moment. Suzaku quickly knelt down and picked it up, offering it to the professor. She took it out of his hands, shot a glare at the both of them, then whirled around and stalked away. Presumably she'd gone to hunt the culprit upstairs, instead.

Once she was gone, Suzaku breathed a sigh of relief, but Lelouch's expression had morphed into one of not insignificant rage.

"Tell me, partner, how exactly does antagonizing the professor against me help either of us?" Lelouch said, staring at nothing. Suddenly, everything clicked for Suzaku.

"It amuses me." C.C. said, and now Suzaku could see her, draped over Lelouch's shoulders, like some sort of green-maned jungle cat.

"Any chance we could convince you to announce yourself more often?" Suzaku tried, for what must have been the seventieth time. She merely smirked at him, not deigning to answer. It irked him a little, if he was totally honest. He had no idea where Lelouch had picked the girl up or how she'd become his partner. Whenever he asked, Lelouch stonewalled him. Suzaku accepted that there were some things his friend wanted kept secret. He could certainly appreciate how having the help of someone like C.C. could be useful, especially to someone in Lelouch's situation, but having had to live with her for weeks—and now, for the foreseeable future—Suzaku was glad that he was rarely the target of the downsides of that particular situation. And, oh, were there downsides.

After Lelouch had managed to get C.C. off of his shoulders, they headed out onto the main avenue. It was a beautiful day outside—the skies were clear, the sun was still fairly high in the sky, and there was a cool breeze blowing down the paved walkway. It was still chilly, early spring, but the grass was already blooming green. The mountains loomed large in the distance, not so far away. It reminded Suzaku for a moment of home, but he quickly put that thought aside.

Some of the other students were hanging around after class, talking amongst themselves. To Suzaku's surprise, a couple of them approached the two of them as they walked along.

"Soooo…" One brown haired boy said, looking up and down the street like he was checking to see if he'd been followed. He had, of course—there were several more students nearby, but apparently they didn't really seem to matter. "You're Prince Lelouch, right?" He said, staring at Lelouch, completely ignoring Suzaku. Rude.

"…yes." Lelouch said, frowning slightly.

"Is it true? Are you really a prince?" A deer-antlered faunus girl asked, blushing as if she'd just asked him on a date. Lelouch stared at her, his expression returning to neutral but with growing concern in his eyes.

"Yes. Technically." He said, curtly.

"What d'you mean by 'technically'?" Someone else asked—a blonde-haired boy asked from the other end of the small crowd that was beginning to form. Suzaku and Lelouch had been forced to stop completely by this point. Lelouch was beginning to look concerned and irritated.

"I'm not primary heir to the throne, or anything like that. There are subtleties to what the title of 'prince' means in Britannia," Lelouch said, trying to inch his way around the crowd. The crowd was having none of it.

"What kind of subtleties?" Someone else asked. Lelouch raised an eyebrow.

"Do you honestly want me to explain the complexities of Britannian succession to you?" He responded.

"Ye—" They began.

"How'd you get to be so strong?" Someone else asked, and that seemed to be the real question they were looking for, because everyone was suddenly totally silent.

"I… trained. A lot." Lelouch said. The crowd was not satisfied.

"What's your semblance?" Someone else asked.

"Do your weapons transform?" Yet another someone else asked.

"Do you have a castle?" Asked still another one.

"Are you in a serious and/or committed relationship?" Asked a boy near the front with shockingly violet hair and entirely too much adoration in his eyes. Lelouch looked like he was beginning to panic, and Suzaku was seriously considering just clearing a path through the crowd with his semblance.

"Yes, he is." C.C. responded from what Suzaku had believed to be an unoccupied space on Lelouch's other side, to his alarm. The crowd gasped.

"H-he… he is in a serious and/or committed relationship?" The violet-haired boy asked, looking heartbroken.

"Indeed. He and I have a special partnership." She said, pressing herself close to Lelouch's side. Suzaku blinked. Surely not…

Then he saw the volcano of irritation that was erupting in Lelouch's eyes. C.C. might have gone too far.

"That's not what this is at all—damn it C.C., Get off of me!" He said, trying to pull himself out of the green-haired girl's grasp, eliciting a gasp of shock from the crowd.

"That's so cruel!"

"How could he treat her like that, in front of everyone?"

"H-he must be one of those evil, tyrannical kind of princes."

"He could lock me up in his dungeon any day…"

That last one came from the violet-haired boy, and some of the crowd paused in their booing of Lelouch to stare at him. "What?" He said, blushing.

Lelouch, meanwhile, was desperately looking around for a way out of the situation, and had still not managed to pry C.C. off. Suzaku decided to lend a hand.

"Attention, everyone!" He began, loud enough to startle the crowd into silence. "As Lelouch's official representative, I'm afraid he won't be able to answer any more questions until a special invitation-only event this evening. Now, I'm only going to say this once; this is location information for a private audience with his highness, and since we don't want to invite too many people, those who know where it is are expected to keep it completely secret. Is everyone listening?" They were. "Now, the party's going to be—"

He blanched. "W-wh… what in the world are Ozpin and Port doing over there?" He shouted, pointing. Everyone turned to look. 

Immediately, Suzaku grabbed Lelouch and C.C. by the waist—not hard, given how closely they were pressed together—and gathered all of his strength. It was harder with the three of them, but he activated his semblance and pushed off of the ground with a powerful gust of air, launching them into the sky. He gathered the wind underneath them, propelled them rapidly and silently through the air towards a nearby tree, and then cushioned the landing in their branches so that barely a leaf rustled. The crowd turned around, realized that their subject had disappeared, then cried out in shock. It dissolved fairly quickly as they began to search, scattering off in different directions in search of the three of them. Not one of them thought to check the treetops; people rarely did, in Suzaku's experience. The three of them remained silent until the searchers had left earshot.

"So that's what it's like to be famous, eh.... thanks, Suzaku. Without your quick thinking," Lelouch glared at C.C., "I don't know what I would have done," he finished, before laying down dramatically onto a branch and massaging his forehead.

"You can thank Milly for that one. She had me pull the same trick to get her away from a band of overeager suitors, once." Suzaku said, then turned to C.C. "Anything to say for yourself?" Suzaku asked the green-haired girl, who smirked.

"It was fun." She said. She laid back onto her own branch. "I don't suppose you'd understand, Mr. white knight."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Suzaku asked, crossing his arms.

"You're dull. It makes you hard to tease. Not like this tyrannical prince over here." She patted Lelouch's knee. Suzaku wasn't sure whether he felt insulted or lucky. A bit of both, maybe.

"Remind me again why I deign to keep you around, C.C.?" Lelouch growled, still staring up at the canopy.

"Because we're partners, you and I. Because I will never abandon you and I will never leave your side, not unless you truly need me to." She said, with a seriousness that gave Suzaku goosebumps. What in the world…? Exactly how serious was their relationship, anyway?

"And most importantly, because having me around is the closest you'll ever get to being in the arms of an attractive young woman." C.C. said. Lelouch sat up, something between outrage and embarrassment flitting across his face, and opened his mouth to issue what was almost certainly going to be a stinging rebuke. Then the branch gave way beneath him with a sharp crack, and he dropped down out of sight.

Suzaku jumped out of the tree, landing softly next to Lelouch, who was beginning the process of picking himself up. C.C. dropped down beside them as Lelouch brushed off his outfit. Lelouch stopped for a moment, stared at his clothing, and sighed.

"Suzaku, how long do we have before dinner?" He asked. Suzaku reached into his pocket and took out his watch—his father's watch. With practiced efficiency, he stifled the feelings that surged up with that thought.

"About half an hour." He said, after doing a quick calculation.

"Well, it seems I've forgotten to change back into my uniform, and I could probably use a shower after that fight. I'm going to go back to the locker room and freshen up. You and C.C. should head to the dorms and rendezvous with Kallen, and then we can all meet up at the mess hall." Lelouch said.

"No." C.C. said, politely.

"No? What do you mean, no?" Lelouch asked.

"No, you're not sending me off with Suzaku. We're partners." C.C. said.

"C.C…" Lelouch said, tone growing a little dangerous, "you are not going to watch me shower."

"What? How could you suggest such a thing?" C.C. said, covering her heart with a hand in what was rather obviously fake shock.

"C.C.—" Lelouch began.

"I'm serious, Lelouch. I'm not letting you out of my sight," She said. She sounded more determined than lecherous this time.

"…well, fine. But if I catch you looking at me once…" Lelouch trailed off ominously, and C.C. rolled her eyes. Apparently that was enough for Lelouch, as he then turned to Suzaku.

"I'll see you soon, then. Make sure your partner isn't plotting some sort of assassination attempt in our room." Lelouch said, mostly joking. Suzaku chuckled.

"Will do. Have fun, you two." He said, leaving Lelouch's frustrated sigh behind him.

It didn't take very long to get to the dorm room. He opened the door without thinking, only to realize too late that Kallen might not be fully decent. Thankfully, she was completely clothed as he walked through the door, although her deer-in-the-headlights look suggested he might have interrupted something private. His eyes flickered to the title of the book she was reading. Huh… he'd seen her read books before, but he hadn't realized that Kallen was a 'Ninjas of Love' kind of girl. She rapidly stuffed the book under her pillow, face blushing red, and Suzaku felt his own face heat up more than a little.

"Ah, um, sorry—" He started.

"Nothing!" She said.

"…I didn't mean to—" He tried.

"—Is what I was doing. Nothing." She continued. They both stared at each other for a moment.

"So… dinner's going to be soon." He said.

"Dinner! Great. I'm glad." She said, expression somewhere between a smile and a grimace. The awkward silence returned.

"I'll just… wait outside." Suzaku said, backing slowly out of the doorway before easing the door behind him. He stared at the closed door for a moment, then decided to lean against the opposite wall and wait as he tried to figure out exactly what had just happened. It didn't take him long to decide that it was maybe a good idea to never think about or mention that particular encounter again.

After another minute or so, Kallen came out and looked him straight in the eye.

"So, we're just going to pretend you didn't see anything just then, right?" She said, more of a demand than a question. Suzaku nodded.

"Good. So, what've you been up to?" She asked. Suzaku was eager to embrace a new topic.

"Mostly saving Lelouch from a crowd of adoring fans, if you can believe it." He said. Kallen stared at him.

"What?" She asked. Suzaku chuckled, then filled her in on the events of the afternoon.

"Wow—I can't believe you had to pull one of Milly's tactics, of all things." She said, grinning, but after a moment, her grin faded. "I hope she's doing alright without us."

"Of course she is." Suzaku said, smiling. "Milly's got an entire school to terrorize. Us not being around just means some other innocent, unsuspecting students will be getting the Milly treatment."

"I guess I should probably be feeling bad for them instead of Milly." Kallen said, smiling. "I wonder who she's trying to play matchmaker with, with us gone?"

"Probably Rivalz and Shirley." Suzaku suggested. Both of them laughed at that idea.

"Hey, so... that girl Lelouch fought today. She's the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, right?" Kallen asked. Suzaku nodded.

"I don't really understand why she has it out for Lelouch, aside from the obvious, but it seems like a good idea to stay out of her way from now on." He said. Kallen nodded.

"Yeah, sure. It's just... she seems really good. I feel like I would've had a tough time beating her." She paused.

"Oh, do you really think you could?" Suzaku asked, innocently.

"Wha—of course! I could beat her down any day. Some supportive partner you are, " Kallen said, before seeing his smile. "Oh, hah hah, very funny. Look, that's not what I'm talking about." She said.

They both moved aside to let some other students pass, pausing their conversation.

"What I'm getting at," Kallen continued, "is that your royal highness friend wiped the floor with her. How the heck did he even get that strong?" She finished. Suzaku frowned.

"To be honest, I'm not really sure." He said. His partner stared back at him, a bit incredulous.

"Hey, it's the truth. You can always go and ask him yourself." He said. She blanched at that.

"No, that's fine." She said. Suzaku frowned.

"Is there something wrong?" He asked.

"It's fine." She said, crossing her arms. Which was to say, it was not fine.

"If you say so," He said, and paused. "Hey, just so you know, you can talk to me if you need to. I take my role as a supportive partner pretty seriously, after all." He said. That made her smile.

"Yeah… okay. It's not like it's a huge thing or anything. It's just that, I don't know…" she looked up at the ceiling. "I made my decision on this pretty fast, and now I'm on a completely different continent, at a completely new school…" She drifted off for a moment. Suzaku felt his stomach sink.

"Are you… I mean, have you reconsidered? I'm sure we could get you on an airship back if—" Suzaku began, but she glanced back sharply at that.

"No! Thank you, but… I'm fine with the decision I made. It's just taking a little adjusting to." She looked back down at her feet. "Mainly I'm just missing all my friends from back home."

"Oh. Yeah. I understand." Suzaku said, thinking for a moment. "Well, the upside to a new school is that you get to make new friends, right?"

"I guess so. I kinda thought of that as more of a 'have to' than a 'get to'." Kallen said.

"Well, we're going to a school full of fighters with crazy weapons and crazier personalities." He smiled. "There're bound to be some fun people to talk to."

* * *

"Hi there! Is it all right if we sit here? Thank you so much." An orange-haired girl said with outrageous amounts of cheer, sitting down on the opposite side of the table.

"Ah…" Suzaku said, trying to find a polite way to tell her to leave. Nothing came to mind.

"Hey, that spot's taken." Kallen said. Bluntness was also a strategy, Suzaku supposed.

"Ooh, don't worry, we're just popping in for a quick chat—aren't we, Renny? We've got our own team to get back to in a sec." The girl said to a boy who'd approached slightly more slowly and now sat down into the spot that was nominally C.C.'s. Suzaku tensed up for a moment, but was glad that no green-haired girl appeared. It would've been just like her to have been sitting there the whole time.

"Yep." Renny said.

"Oh." Suzaku glanced over at Kallen, who shrugged.

"So, we were just walkin' around the other day, and we heard something a little funny. We checked around and confirmed it. So, now we're wondering…" the girl's stare hardened, "why someone from Mistral would ever get anywhere near that ship, and be all pal-sy with a Britannian pur-rin-ce." She finished. It took Suzaku a moment to figure out that they were talking about him.

"I'm not comfortable answering such questions from people I don't know at all." He said, not sure what else to do. "I'm Suzaku Kururugi. You two were there when we landed, right? What are your names?" 

The two glanced at each other, and Suzaku began to feel like he'd entered into some kind of negotiation.

"I'm Nora Valkyrie, and this is Lie Ren. We're from team JNPR." Nora said.

"I'm Kallen. Nice to meet you." Kallen said, barely leaking any sarcasm.

"So. Spill it, buster." Nora demanded, thumping her fist on the table. It would've been funny if she hadn't looked so serious.

"Well, first of all, it wasn't up to me. Second of all, Lelouch is an old friend. Does that answer your questions?" Suzaku asked.

"No, it does not! It wasn't up to you? An old friend? All you've done is give me more questions!" Nora stood, looming over Suzaku with murder in her eyes. He resisted the urge to shrink back in fear.

"You better explain better, or I won't be happy. You wouldn't like me when I'm not happy." She leaned even closer. "Am I gonna have to break your legs?" She asked, quietly… solemnly… as if it was a prayer. Suzaku reached for his sword, realized he didn't have it, began to panic internally and started to scan the table for some sort of utensil to defend himself with.

"Okay, did you just try to threaten my partner right in front of me?" Kallen asked, standing up as well.

"You wanna dance, girly?" Nora the terrifying demonic entity asked, reaching down to—was she going to pick up the whole bench?

"Who you calling girly? I could take you any day." Kallen replied, grabbing a full coffee mug. That didn't exactly fill Suzaku with confidence.

"Ohoho, I am going to make you eat those words—and some teeth." Nora the monster-from-Hell said, smiling.

"Ookay, that's enough of that." Ren said, standing up. "We may have gotten off on the wrong foot here. Sorry about all this."

"Wah—Aw, but Reeeeeen…" Nora said, demeanor changing completely. She pouted, as if she was merely a disappointed girl, not the fire-eyed engine of wrath Suzaku had seen a moment before.

"C'mon, Nora." Ren said, tugging her along by her jacket sleeve.

"This—this isn't over! I know where you sleep!" Nora shouted, before at last disappearing with he partner into the greater confusion that was the pre-dinner mess hall.

"What was that all about?" Lelouch asked, sitting down in the spot where, for Suzaku, the ghost of Nora still lingered.

"You don't want to know." Suzaku said. After getting a good look at his face, Lelouch seemed to concur with that.

The rest of dinner went smoothly, as far as these things did—just food, and talk, and a little more food, and a little more talk. It wasn't long at all before the four of them headed back to their dorm, finished the next day's homework, took turns taking showers, and went to bed.

* * *

Suzaku woke to a breath of cold air. It was still dark, and his vision was blurred with sleep, but there was definitely a pale sort of light. As his vision cleared up, he realized what it was—moonlight, pouring through an open window. Something was locking it, however. A figure…

Adrenaline brought him fully awake in an instant. An assassin?

No. He recognized that silhouette, leaning against the side of the window frame.

"Lelouch…?" He asked. Lelouch turned, glanced at him. There was something alien in his eyes, something that Suzaku had never seen before. He looked, off. Distant.

"You should go back to sleep, Suzaku." Lelouch said, turning back to stare at something outside of the window that Suzaku couldn't see. The moon?

"Why are you still awake?" He asked.

"I couldn't sleep. Nightmares." Lelouch replied. Suzaku processed that for a moment, then frowned.

"Why did you open the window?" Suzaku asked. "What are you…" 

A chilling sort of fear, colder than the wind coming through the window, crept down Suzaku's back, and he slowly slid out from under the warmth of his bed covers.

"Do you ever wonder about how easy it would be? How quickly it happens?" Lelouch asked, voice quiet and muffled. "It could just take a single instant. If done right."

"Lelouch, what are you talking about?" Suzaku asked. Lelouch turned back to him, gaze bizarrely serene.

"Death, I mean. It could be so quick, so simple… all the struggle, all the pain, just gone." Lelouch said, not quite seeing Suzaku. Suzaku began to panic.

"Lelouch, I think you should step back from the ledge now." Suzaku said, trying to keep his voice eve, calm. This couldn't be happening.

"What?" Lelouch asked, before letting out a flat mockery of a chuckle. "Oh, no, no. My apologies—I realize what this looks like. I'm not going to kill myself, Suzaku. I can't. Not yet."

"Then…" Suzaku couldn't even begin to imagine what was going on. "Why are you standing in the window?" He finally asked.

"I'm going out. Didn't want to risk being followed." Lelouch said. Suzaku noticed the sword clutched in his friend's right hand.

"Where?" Suzaku asked.

"Does it matter?" Lelouch replied.

"Yeah. It matters to me." Suzaku said. "What if something happened to you?"

Lelouch just shrugged. turning back towards the open window. They were three stories up.

"I can't let you do this." Suzaku said. Lelouch shook his head.

"Go back to sleep, Suzaku. I'll be back." Lelouch said. Before Suzaku could do anything about it, Lelouch hurled himself out of the window.

Suzaku rushed over to the now unblocked frame, only to see his friend arc gracefully through the air, land, roll to his feet, and sprint off into the darkness. Not knowing what else to do, he shut the window tightly, though he didn't twist the lock. 

Feeling numb, cold, tired and confused, he stumbled past a still-snoring Kallen to his own bed, and lay back down. Before long, he'd fallen back asleep.

* * *

Running, flying through the night. The sensation was invigorating, but that was not important. Rage had boiled over. It filled every limb, made each muscle burn. It seemed limitless—it had been kept quiet for too long. Need to fight. Need to bleed. Need to kill.

The first two were beowolves, prowling among the trees. Oh, how the hatred of them burned brighter than all the rest. They were torn apart, eviscerated, decapitated. An ursa was next, then two more. Then, a deathstalker, its carapace no match for the fury. Then, it was beowolves again, one after another. They began to blur together, their dust began to coat the ground underfoot. Where were the rest? There had to be more. There was one—bisected. Keep coming. Keep going. Slice them to bits. Roar in defiance—don't stop. Never stop. Never—

Small, pale hands, reaching out from the black… 

No. No. Keep going. Faster.

Slice. Cut. Stab. Rip. Tear. Destroy. Destroy. Destroy them ALL.

* * *

The Emerald Forest rang with the sounds of battle. A swordsman danced through the dark, weaving a waltz of annihilation for all Grimm who dared to approach... cackling laughter echoing through the woods, and face wet with tears.

A green-haired woman followed, keeping a silent vigil. Unnoticed in the night.


End file.
